Street Songs (Remastered) Rick James

• 1 Give It To Me Baby 04:09
• 2 Ghetto Life 04:23
• 3 Make Love To Me 04:50
• 4 Mr. Policeman 04:21
• 5 Super Freak 03:26
• 6 Fire And Desire 07:20
• 7 Call Me Up 03:55
• 8 Below The Funk ( Pass The J ) 02:37
• Total Runtime 35:01

Info for Street Songs (Remastered)

Following on from the poorly received Garden of Love album, Rick James released the seminal Street Songs in 1981 to both critical acclaim and commercial success, showing that the king of punk-funk was back on top.

What made Street Songs such a success was the defiant and passionate performances given by James, together with the innovative and exciting songwriting throughout. The singles Superfreak, Ghetto Life and Give It To Me Baby all topped the dance charts in the US, and the album managed to breathe new life into a Motown label, which at the time was struggling to release hit albums. Street Songs became the biggest R&B album of that year, staying at the top of the charts for 20 consecutive weeks and since then the album has gone multi-platinum.

Although the album was released close to three decades ago, the influence of James as a performer and Street Songs as an album remains strong, with his tracks being sampled by hip hop artists including Busta Rhymes and Jay Z as well as being featured in numerous film and computer game soundtracks.“ (BBC, David O'Donnell)

Rick James, vocals, guitar, bass, drums, percussion
Teena Marie, vocals
Alonzo Miller, spoken vocals
Tom McDermott, guitar, percussion
Larry Hansen, violin
Daniel LeMelle, flute, alto & tenor saxophones
John Ervin, flute, trombone
Gerald Albright, flute
Cliff Ervin, piccolo, trumpet, flugelhorn
Stevie Wonder, harmonica
William Rhinehart, saxophone, background vocals
Erskine Williams, Clavinet, Hammond B-3 organ, keyboards
Levi Ruffin, Jr., OBX synthesizer, strings, background vocals
Donny Keider, vibraphone
Narada Michael Walden, drums
Steve Price, drums
Armando Peraza, percussion
The Temptations, background vocals
Lawrence Hilton Jacobs, background vocals
Jane't DuBois, background vocals

Recorded at The Record Plant, Sausalito, California & Motown/Hitsville U.S.A. Recording Studios, Hollywood, California
Mixed Down at West Lake Audio, Los Angeles, California
Mastered at Allen Zentz Mastering, Los Angeles, California
Produced by Rick James

Digitally remastered

Rick James
In the late '70s, when the fortunes of Motown Records seemed to be flagging, Rick James came along and rescued the company, providing funky hits that updated the label's style and saw it through into the mid-'80s. Actually, James had been with Motown earlier, though nothing had come of it. After growing up in Buffalo and running away to join the Naval Reserves, he ran away from the Navy to Toronto, where he was in a band with future Buffalo Springfield members Neil Young and Bruce Palmer, and with Goldy McJohn, later of Steppenwolf. As the Mynah Birds, they signed to Motown and recorded, though no record was ever released. James had a journeyman's career playing bass in various groups before signing again to Motown as an artist, songwriter, and producer. His first single, "You and I" (May 1978), topped the R&B charts and reached the pop Top 40. "Mary Jane" (September 1978) was another hit. Both were on James' debut album, Come Get It! (June 1978), which went gold. Subsequent efforts were not as successful, though Bustin' Out of L Seven (January 1979) featured the R&B hit "Bustin' Out" (April 1979). James returned to form with the number one R&B hit "Give It to Me Baby" (March 1981), featured on the million-selling Street Songs (April 1981), which also featured the hit "Super Freak." James turned his production attention to resuscitating the career of the Temptations, recently returned to Motown, and "Standing on the Top" (April 1982), credited to the Temptations featuring Rick James, was an R&B Top Ten. (He also produced recordings by Teena Marie and the Mary Jane Girls.) James' follow-up to Street Songs was the gold-selling Throwin' Down (May 1982), which featured the hit "Dance Wit' Me." The title song of Cold Blooded (August 1983) became James' third R&B number one, and the album also featured his hit duet with Smokey Robinson, "Ebony Eyes." James' greatest-hits album Reflections (August 1984) featured the new track "17" (June 1984), which also became a hit. Glow (April 1985) contained Top Ten R&B singles in the title track and "Can't Stop," which was featured in the summer movie blockbuster Beverly Hills Cop. The Flag (June 1986) featured the hit "Sweet and Sexy Thing" (May 1986). James left Motown for the Reprise division of Warner Bros. Records as of the album Wonderful (July 1988), which featured his number one R&B hit "Loosey's Rap," on which he was accompanied by rapper Roxanne Shante. Nevertheless, his "punk funk" didn't seem to rest comfortably with the trend toward rap/hip-hop. In 1989, James charted briefly with a medley of the Drifters hits "This Magic Moment" and "Dance With Me." In 1990, MC Hammer scored a massive hit with "U Can't Touch This," which consisted of his rap over the instrumental track of "Super Freak." That should have made for a career rebirth, but James was plagued by drug and legal problems that found him more frequently in court and in jail rather than in the recording studio. The majority of his legal woes behind him, James returned in 1997 with Urban Rapsody, which didn't yield any hits but was well accepted by critics. Rick James died of a heart attack on August 6, 2004, at his Los Angeles home.

This album contains no booklet.